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. 2021 May 1;96(5):641-651.
doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003907.

Wellness-Centered Leadership: Equipping Health Care Leaders to Cultivate Physician Well-Being and Professional Fulfillment

Tait Shanafelt  1 , Mickey Trockel  2 , Ashleigh Rodriguez  3 , Dave Logan  4
Affiliations

Wellness-Centered Leadership: Equipping Health Care Leaders to Cultivate Physician Well-Being and Professional Fulfillment

Tait Shanafelt et al. Acad Med. .

Abstract

These are challenging times for physicians. Extensive changes in the practice environment have altered the nature of physicians' interactions with patients and their role in the health care delivery system. Many physicians feel as if they are "cogs in the wheel" of austere corporations that care more about productivity and finances than compassion or quality. They often do not see how the strategy and plan of their organization align with the values of the profession. Despite their expertise, they frequently do not feel they have a voice or input in the operational plan of their work unit, department, or organization. At their core, the authors believe all of these factors represent leadership issues. Many models of leadership have been proposed, and there are a number of effective philosophies and approaches. Here, the authors propose a new integrative model of Wellness-Centered Leadership (WCL). WCL includes core skills and qualities from the foremost leadership philosophies along with evidence on the relationship between leadership and physician well-being and distills them into a single framework designed to cultivate leadership behaviors that promote engagement and professional fulfillment. The 3 elements of WCL are: care about people always, cultivate individual and team relationships, and inspire change. A summary of the mindset, behaviors, and outcomes of the elements of the WCL model is presented, and the application of the elements for physician leaders is discussed. The authors believe that learning and developing the skills that advance these elements should be the aspiration of all health care leaders and a foundational focus of leadership development programs. If cultivated, the authors believe that WCL will empower individual and team performance to address the current problems faced by health care organizations as well as the iterative innovation needed to address challenges that may arise in the decades to come.

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Conflict of interest statement

Other disclosures: T. Shanafelt is co-inventor of the Participatory Management Leadership Index and the Well-being Index instruments. Mayo Clinic holds the copyright for these instruments and has licensed them for use outside of Mayo Clinic. T. Shanafelt receives a portion of royalties from Mayo Clinic. T. Shanafelt also receives royalties from the book Mayo Clinic Strategies to Reduce Burnout: 12 Actions to Create the Ideal Workplace. A. Rodriguez is also employed at Heritage Provider Network and has performed contracted work for CultureSync and the California Medical Association’s CMA Wellness Services. D. Logan is cofounder of the management consulting firm CultureSync. Although he is no longer involved in day-to-day business of the firm, both he and his wife have an ownership stake in the company.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram showing the 3 elements of the Wellness-Centered Leadership model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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